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Delivering Saudi Arabia’s global logistics goals

12 July 2023

 

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has high aspirations for the logistics sector. Strategically located between the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, the kingdom has set bold targets as it aims to become a global logistics hub handling 4.5 million tonnes of air cargo and 330 million air passengers a year by the end of the decade.

To deliver these goals, Riyadh recognised the need for a new generation of national champions to lead the sector’s development. One of those companies is Saudi Logistics Services (SAL), formed in December 2019.

“While it appears that we have only four years of experience, we were part of Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation (SACC), carrying a history of more than 77 years, since 1945 when the Saudi airline was established,” says SAL’s managing director and CEO Faisal Albedah (pictured) in an interview with MEED.

“The shareholders decided to carve out the cargo handling from SACC and create SAL,” Albedah says, adding that the move was designed to “focus more on cargo handling, to grow it, increase efficiency and give best-in-class services to our clients”.

Multiple modes

SAL’s name underpins its ambition to be more than just an air cargo handler.

“SAL stands for sea, air and land. It’s about the connectivity between all the modes of shipment. Our vision is to be the logistic champion for a globally connected Saudi Arabia,” he says.

This, he explains, will be achieved by “building the right organisation, resources and capabilities, and also with partnerships across the value chain”.

SAL already has significant operations in the kingdom. “We operate in 18 airports across Saudi Arabia and have our own terminals everywhere.”

He underlines the company’s strategic role in aiding Vision 2030 by elaborating, “We increase our capacity and efficiency by utilising digitisation and automation. We allocated capital expenditure of SR1.5bn [$400m] to expand our capacity and support Vision 2030.”

We are working to localise logistics expertise within Saudi Arabia. We have 1,000 employees, 97.2 per cent of whom are Saudi nationals
Faisal Albedah, SAL

Solid growth

SAL is growing strongly. Its performance in the first quarter of 2023 shows expansion across various metrics. 

Transit truck handling was the star performer, with a 161.3 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of trucks handled.

Dammam stood out with an impressive 358.2 per cent growth, underlining its prominence in transit operations. Riyadh experienced a 28 per cent year-on-year increase, while Jeddah showed a decrease of 13 per cent.

Passenger aircraft handling numbers grew by 18 per cent on a year-on-year basis, with Jeddah leading the demand with 39.1 per cent growth. 

For cargo aircraft handling, SAL achieved a substantial 18.4 per cent year-on-year increase, led by Dammam with 64.4 per cent growth. However, the rise in cargo handling was not universal. Jeddah registered a 6.8 per cent drop in cargo plane handling.

When comparing the weight of the total volumes of shipments, SAL achieved a commendable 13.1 per cent year-on-year increase. Dammam, once again, emerged as the leader with 40.8 per cent year-on-year growth.

Jeddah also witnessed positive growth of 15.9 per cent, while Riyadh experienced an increase of 5.5 per cent. Medina showed a slight decrease of 1.5 per cent. 

Going forward, a core aspect of SAL’s growth strategy involves investing in human capital.

“We have signed an agreement with the Saudi Logistic Academy, sending 250 of our staff to get an education in logistics solutions,” says Albedah.

Giving insights into SAL’s customer relations and handling capacity, Albedah shares that “we handle nearly 380 daily flights” and emphasises the company's approach to problem-solving.

“Clients do not just want services; they need solutions. We sit with our clients to understand their challenges and work out a long-term solution,” he said, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the need for resilient, long-term solutions.

Focusing on SAL’s efforts in localisation, Albedah proudly announces that, “We are working to localise logistics expertise within Saudi Arabia. We have 1,000 employees, 97.2 per cent of whom are Saudi nationals.”

Online retail

One sector that has been identified as a fast-growing opportunity for SAL is online retail.

“E-commerce in the region is expected to grow at a rate of 16 per cent between 2020 and 2030. SAL supports the sector with our cargo handling business, which has fully dedicated terminals to support all the courier companies. We also plan to invest in fulfilment services for e-commerce,” says Albedah.

Another initiative for the future is SAL’s plan to diversify into passenger handling. “We have obtained our licence for ground services for passengers from the General Authority of Civil Aviation,” he says. 

In January, SAL signed a memorandum of understanding with ground-handling company Menzies Aviation to develop passenger handling services for low-cost carriers at Saudi Arabia’s airports.

Albedah says collaborating with a multinational player will “help us get into passenger handling. We want to play a role in achieving the country’s vision to reach 330 million passengers a year by 2030”.

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Colin Foreman

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